Somewhere Between Hate and Peanuts
by Snowball's-Chance
Summary: Hairspray Tracy falls ill for and unknown reason. Link and Seaweed set out to solve the mystery.
1. Chapter 1

There seems to be a lot of stories about Link, but I'm going to write one anyway, becuase I am pretty much in love with Link.

Continuity: Yeah, I pretty much pull stuff outa my butt. So if you do try to confirm my facts, you will find them grieviously wrong.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hairspray. Also, my spell check is broken, so it might get a little confusing sometimes, cuz I am really stupid at spelling things. Little bit of languege

_A-choo!_

It all started with a sneeze.

Link Larkin walked happily down the street, his long, strong fingers intertwined with Tracy Turnblad's soft, warm ones after the last rehersal before filming Corny Collin's Summer Special. Everyone was so excited. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the cars roared down the street with purpose. It was the perfect summer day, so Tracy and Link decided to take a walk down to the ice cream shop. They made sure to kiss ech other every three minutes.

"Bless you, Baby." Link said to his girlfriend after she let out a tremendous sneeze.

"Thanks, Link. Golly, what's that smell?" Tracy said, looking around.

"What smell, Trace?" he said questioningly

"That smell...it almost smells..." she never finished, fainting dead away in Link's surprised arms.

"Baby? Baby! What's wrong, Little Darlin'?" Link asked frantically, his stomach dropping to the vicinity of his ankles.

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Link paced agitatedly in the hospital waiting room while Edna and Wilbur Turnblad waited anxiously nearby. Link felt like crawling out of his own skin. He had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity and was thinking seriously of breaking into the examination room when Tracy's doctor approached her parents.

"The good news is, your daughter's going to be fine." The three of them let out a breath they had not realized they'd been holding.

"Is there any bad news, Doctor?" Wilbur asked.

"Well, Mr. Turnblad, we don't exsactly know what caused your daughters reaction. You say she just passed out on the street?"

"She said she smelled something funny before she fainted, Sir." Link said.

"Well, that could mean something respiratory, but we just don't know. Something caused the blood flow to her brain to be disrupted, that's why she lost consiousness. I'd like to run some more tests, then she can go home tommorow, depending on what they say."

"Thank you, Doctor. Can we see her now?" Edna asked.

"Of course." he said and told them what room she was in.

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"I just don't unerstand it, Link" Tracy fretted, sitting up in bed when Link came in after her parents had left the room to give them some privacy. "I was fine one minute and then I smelled that wierd smell and everything just went black."

"What did it smell like?" Link asked her.

"Like..." she squinted, trying to find the right words. Link could help but notice how adorable she looked. "Like something burning." she finally decided.

"Burning?" Link asked.

"Yeah, burning. I couldn't tell what, though." Tracy said, more sure of her answer.

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Link went home when the nurses chased him out when visitors hours were over, thinking.

_Burning's the key. Something to do with burning made Tracy sick._ Link thought hard to himself. _I think I'm gonna have to go down an check this out for myself._

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Link rose early the next morning, put on on one of Tracy's favorite blue suits of his, did his hair, and bolted out of the door. He wanted to see Tracy so badly. It almost felt like he was going through a withdraw. It felt like they hadn't talked in months.

To his dissapointment, Tracy would be in tests and wouldn't be released untill the afternoon.

"She said not to worry, that she'll be out in time for filming today." the nurse told him.

He decided to go back to where they'd been walking and see if he coulldn't smell anything again.

Link called Seaweed. He wanted another persons opinion about what had happened.

"Seaweed! It's Link" Link said after his best friend picked up.

"I just called Penny. She's hysterical, man. She said Tracy passed out yesterday for no reason." Seaweed said.

"She did. But I don't know if it's for no reason. Sh said she smelled something wierd before she fainted and I want to go see if I can't find what it is." Link said.

"Come pick me up. I want to come too." Seaweed said.

"Are you sure? I'm not sure what this stuff is and..."

"Listen, Cracker Boy, Tracy's my friend, too. I want to help her."

"Alright" Link said, secretly glad of the company. "I'll be over in a few." and he hung up the phone.

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"Do you smell anything?" Link asked as they neared the corner that he and Tracy ahd been walking down a day earlier.

"No" Seaweed said.

Link looked around the spot, frusterted. There were cars, apartment buildings, shops and people walking. What around here would cause Tracy to faint?

Link's gaze settled on an alleyway. He walked toward it hoping to find something. He saw a few black marks along the egde of the alleyway, almost like burn marks.

_"Like..." she quinted, trying to find the right words. "Like something burning." she finally decided._

"Let's go down here and see what we find." Link told Seaweed as he headed toward the alley.

"Why?" Seaweed questioned.

Link touched the burn marks and his fingers came back sooty. He looked back at Seaweed.

"Tracy said she smelled burning." Link said. "Now, what could be hot enough to burn brick?"

"I don't know. Let's head down here and find out." Seaweed offered as they began walking doun the alley.

The alley was dark, despite the day being mostly uncloudy. There were stray articles of trash strewn on the concrete across the wetness still running down from a rain shower a couple of days ago.

"Looks like a dead end." Seaweed.

"Wait-" Link held a finger up and pointed toward an open window above a doorway. There was clear distortion as waves of heat escaped though the ventilation. Link motioned Seaweed toward the door. They soundlessly pulled up two boxes to to the open window, stepped up on them, and looked inside.

"Shut that! It's already hotter than Hell in here!" yelled a gruff voice.

"Shut it yourself, Manny! I ain't your slave!"yelled another.

"Would you two quit arguing? This is the last batch. A girl passed out yesterday and I don't want anyone snooping around! The Corny Collins Summer Special is filming next week and I want to be ready by then!" A third voice ordered the first two. This one was high pitched, with a slight lisp.

Link's eyes got wider. They were talking about the show. and a batch of something and Link and Seaweed had a feeling that it wasn't peanut brittle.

"We need more nuts, boss. This ain't enough for the last batch." The second voice said.

"Nuts?" Link mouthed silently to Seaweed. Seaweed just shrugged. Link smacked his forehead silently. Seaweed gave him a questioning look.

"Tracy's allergic to peanuts." Link whispered. "That would explain why she fainted."

"I've seen her eat candy bars with peanuts in them." Seaweed questioned.

"They're synthetic. Taste just like the real thing, I ate one once. Why would they want to burn real ones?"

"Let's find out." Seaweed said, motioning toward the window.

"Very well. Go out and get some more."The high pitched 'Boss' told one of the men. "Oh, and bring those two boys in that have been listening at the window. We need to have a little talk."

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WHOO!!! EXCITING!!!!

Anyway, there are pretty much no such thing as synthetic peanuts, but I got this whole story written with the peanut storyline and I really liked it and didn't want to change it. Voila'! Instant scientific breakthough!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading becuase I do so enjoy writing.

-Gold


	2. Chapter 2

**Important note: Okay, this was totally my fault, but I typed in the wrong date for the filming of the Corny Collins Summer Special. It films today. Well, this day right here. My apologies.**

Anywhoo, I like to be very cartoonish sometimes, so bear with me.

Continuity: ignore pretty much anything scientific in here. I'm too lazy to do reasearch.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hairspray

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Link's heart immeadiately flew into his throat. He looked over at Seaweed and saw his eyes as wide as dinner plates. Apperently he heard the same order.

They were scambling down to make a run for it when Seaweed tripped and fell on top of Link. They sprawled hard on the concrete. Link and Seaweed quickly picked themselves up, but found themselves staring down the barrel of a gun.

"You kids think you're goin' somewhere?" A very large, gruff man asked them as they slowly raised thier hands.

Penny Pingleton pushed the wheelchair Tracy sat in after she was checked out from the hospital. She was glad to be able to make up for not coming to visit Tracy when she arrived in the hospital.

"I'm fine. I don't know why I have to ride in this stupid wheelchair anyway." Tracy said, sulking. "I wonder where Link is? The nurse told me he came by this morning."

"I don't know. Probably with Seaweed. I can't find him either." Penny answered reasonably.

"I hope nothing's wrong." Tracy said, a little worried.

"Why would anything be wrong?" Penny asked.

"Becuase I think he was going to go back to where I fainted yesterday." Tracy said. " I told him not to, that I was fine, but he can be so pig-headed sometimes. It really bothers him not knowing what happened. Seaweed might have gone with him."

"We'll talk to Miss Maybelle. Maybe she'll know where they are." Penny said, helping Tracy into the car, then going over to the driver's side.

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"Why, Link did pick up Seaweed this morning, Sugar. They said that they were going to the ice cream shop ya'll went to yesterday. Haven't been back since. If you see Seaweed tell him to be ON TIME for filming his afternoon or he's not gonna be able to sit down for a week." Motormouth said when they asked her about Seaweed and Link's whereabouts.

"We will, Miss Maybelle. Thanks!" They said as they walked out of the door.

Penny and Tracy piled back into the car.

"We need to go back to that place. I'm worried something terrible has happened." Tracy said, biting her fingernails

Link and Seaweed were not having a good day.

They were tied back to back to two wooden kitchen chairs in the same room they had just been looking into. Manny was working around a huge insinerator they wer using somewhat like a pizza oven to refine the peanuts. 'Boss' faced them.

Boss was a very, very short older man,about three feet tall in his late 60s. He wore a grey suit with a black shirt and had his coal black hair slicked back from his pasty white forehead. Link instantly didn't like the looks of him.

"I know both of you. You are on the Corny Collins Show." Boss said in the same high pitched, lispy voice.

"Not a fan, I take it?" Seaweed asked sarcastically.

"Silence, Negro." Boss said.

Link groaned and pulled on the ropes around his wrists, trying to relieve some of the pull in his shoulders. "Oh, man. You're one of those aren't you? That's why you want to do whatever it is to the Corny Collins Show Summer Special that your planning on doing with all of these peanuts. Beacuse it's integrated."

"You're such a smart boy." Boss said, sneering as he pinched Link's cheek with one clammy hand. Link shook him off.

"What is it your planning on doing? What are all of these peanuts for?" Seaweed asked. "Dump peanut oil on us?"

"It's not anything that your _race_ can appreciate. It is a brillaint plan that will destroy your filthy television program with...my...brilliant plan."

"You said that already." Link said.

"What?" Boss asked.

"'Brilliant plan'" Link told him.

"No I didn't." he said,

"Yes. Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No I didn't"

"You're an idiot." Link finally gave up and leaned back against his chair, exsasperated. Boss's face turned a remarkable shade of purple

"You're refining them." Seaweed said.

"What?" Link tried to turned his head as much as he could to try to look at his friend with one eyebrow raised.

"Refining it makes the vegitable oil more volitle, making it flamable and explosive when contained in a small area." Seaweed explained.

"You're going to blow us up with peanuts?" Link asked Boss.

"How did you figure-?" Boss was flummoxed, looking at Seaweed.

"_Negros_ are capable of a lot more than you think they are." Seaweed said, glaring at Boss.

"Yeah, they are!" Link agreed, bumping fists with Seaweed behind thier backs between the chairs.

"SILENCE!" Boss said again. "I don't like killing children, but you leave me no choice. I will just have to do the job with the two batches we have."

Manny was carefully taking a tray filled with what looked like white clay out the the makeshift oven while the were talking, but he tripped on his shoelace and stumbled just a little.

But it was enough. A small drop of the white clay escaped the tray and went into the fire. A huge fireball exploded out of the incinerator, narrowly missing Manny.

"Careful with that, you fool!" He yelled at Manny. Then Boss smiled wickedly at his two teenage captives. "What's left of the third batch will be enough to take care of you two."

Seaweed and Link suddenly understood what he meant to do and beagan to thrash wildly, trying to get free from the ropes tying them to thier chairs. He nodded at Manny and Manny took out two bandanas, tying one around each of the boy's mouths.

Boss poured the white clay into a metal box with wires running out of it to an alarm clock to a table two feet from them."You have ten minutes left to live, boys. It will not be a large explosion, but there is fifteen stories of brick in above our heads and I don't believe I have to tell you boys that they will never find your bodies. Ta-ta!"

Even more exiting! Will our two heartthobs get free in time? tune in.

So...Sweeny Todd? Not exsactly the feel good movie of the year. Pretty much the complete polar opposite of Hairspray. But if you are a manically depressed emo kid, you will enjoy it. And it's got a killer score.

Heh heh 'killer' I didn't even mean to do that.

Oh, I am so excited about my comments!. Thank you guys very much.

Thanks for reading

-Gold


	3. Chapter 3

I saw that I did a really bad job dividing htis up last chapter. Apologies.

Okay, I just got over a really bad cold and most of this story is a little bit cracktastic due to lack of oxygen to my brain, but I'm rather enjoying it so I thought I'd keep going with it anyway.

Continutiy: Science Schmience

Disclaimer: Don't own Hairspray. Really bad at spelling and whatnot.

Oh, and P.S.: Link and Seaweed totally just invented the fist bump in the last chapter.

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**5 minutes**

Tracy was a little leery at going to the corner again, not wanting to spend another night in the hospital, but her worry about Link and Seaweed pushing all thoughts of herself back in the back of her mind.

Penny pulled the car into a parking spot on the street and they got out, exploring the city block Tracy ahd walked hand in hand with Link one day ealier.

"I don't get it, Tracy. What are we look-" she was cut off when she thought she heard something. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tracy asked, as they neared an alley. Then she heard it.

"That--yelling. Only it doesn't sound like yelling." Penny asked.

**3 Minutes**

"I don't hear anything." Tracy said, but was worried just the same.

"It's coming from down here." Penny said suddenly, sprinting down the alley.

"Penny! Wait! Penny-!" Tracy said, running after her.

They got further and further down the alley and suddenly Tracy heard it, too. Muffled cries coming from the other side of a door with a ventilation window on the top.

They tried the door and found it locked.

"Feel along the top doorjam. I think I see a hide-a-key up there." Tracy told her taller friend, not quite able to reach it herself.

Penny reached up and grabbed the shining piece of metal that Tracy had indicated. They unlcoked the door and pushed it open.

**1 Minute**

"Oh, my God!" Tracy exclaimed, as the girls rushed over to Link and Seaweed. "What happened? Who did this?" she asked as she pulled the gag off of Link ad Penny began to untie Seaweed.

"Tracy! Baby, there's a bomb over on that table and it's gonna go off any minute!" Link said frantically.

Tracy went over to the table and looked at the apparatus. There were two wires leading from the alarm clock to the box. She made a decision.

"I could just separate..." she said to herself. She pulled the wires out of the box of peanut oil as the clock counted the last seconds before detonation.

**0 Minutes**

The alarm went off. All four teenagers jumped. But nothing happened. They all looked up.

"You did it, Baby!" Link kissed Tracy as she untied his ankles.

"Okay, we need to go to the cops and tell them what they're is planning to do." Link said as he stood up and streched.

"Good i-" then Tracy fainted again.

"Shit! The peanuts! She breathed it in again!" Link said, catching her before she hit the hard concrete. "Go find a phone. I'll wait here with Tracy. Make sure they send someone over to the studio to stop the filming."

Seaweed and Penny nodded and ran out of the door. They found a payphone down the street and quickly dialed the police.

"Hello?"said a nsally voice on the other end of the line. "Emergency assistance. Please state your name and the nature of your emergency."

"Hello? Hello! Yes, this is an emergency. My name is Seaweed Stubbs. You have to send police over to the Corny Collin's Show. Quickly! Someone is going to bomb it!" Seaweed said frantically into the reciever.

"Mr. Stubbs, I don't hold well with hoodlum pranksters, now this line is for emergencies only. Hang up before I have to call the police on you."

"No, _we're_ calling the police! We don't have any time for this. A couple of guys just tried to kill me and my friend. THEY'RE ON THIER WAY OVER THERE WITH A BOMB RIGHT NOW!" Seaweed yelled into the reciever, frusterated. "FILMING STARTS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!"

"Have a nice day, sir." the nasally woman said in a nasty tone and the line went dead.

Seaweed yelled and slammed the phone back on the reciever. He grabbed Penny's hand and they ran back to the alley. They found Link helping Tracy off of the ground.

"They didn't believe us." Seaweed told them breathlessly.

"Damn. You didn't mention anything about a bomb made out of peanuts, did you?" Link said.

"Do I look that stupid, Cracker Boy?"

"Let's just get over to the show and warn everbody!" Penny said, and they all bolted out the door to the car.

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Will the show live out the day? come back for more.

Musical note of the day: The dance remix of High School Musical 2's "All For One" is totally worth buying off iTunes just to hear Zac Efron's voice all metalic-y. I was like "It's Robo-Troy!"

Heh heh heh. My crack is the good stuff.

Anyway, thanks for staying with me for this long.

-Gold


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so 'nother chapter...and stuff

Continutiy: Don't try to be clever and repeat this stuff to your friends. Cuz I made it up.

Disclaimer: Don't own Hairspray, but I think you know that already

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A car screeched into the parking lot of WYZT with a handsome, frantic-looking raven-haired teenage boy at the wheel. He jumped out like it was on fire and ran toward the building, followed by his three friends.

Link looked around frantically, trying to decide where to look first. Tracy came up next to him followed by Penny and Seaweed.

"Where would it be?" Penny said.

"Think about it. Where would the bomb do the most damage?" Tracy asked. "I think it might be under the stage somewhere. Under the integrated dancers."

"Great idea!" Seaweed said, as the group pelted into the stastions front doors. They headed down the long hallway to a door marked **Sublevel**. The stairway was dark, but they haphazardly ran down it, hoping to be in time to stop a tragety.

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Cory Collins frowned as he did last checks with the cast's roll, coming up short three again.

_Where are Tracy, Link and Seaweed?_ he asked himself. He's known about Tracy's stay in the hospital, but she'd said she'd make filming without a problem. It puzzled him, it wasn't like any of them to be late. Those three were some of the most hard-working dancers he'd had the pleasure of working with.

_Well, I'm sure they had a reason._ he said to himself as he got to his place behind the booth on the stage.

The show started off great. Despite having to compact the roll call becuase of the absences, there wasn't a hitch. And by the studio audiece's reaction, the ratings were going to be sky high.

The cast members were in the middle of dancing to a popular chart topper when a very tall man and a very short man stepped onto the stage for no reason.

"Attention! Attention! May I have you're attention please?" the shorter man said, rudely pushing people out of his way to get in front of the cameras.

Corny went front and center with the man, furious, but with an unshakable smile still plastered acorss his movie-star features. "What the hell do you think you guys are doing?" he said to the shorter man.

"Fixing society." the shorter man said simply and nodded to his taller friend.

Manny took Corny Collins in a headlock and put a gun to his temple. The music immeadiately stopped playing.

"What's going on here? Who are you?" Corny demanded.

"I want all of you to remain seated and calm. If you do not follow these instructions, I will be forced to kill Mr. Collins here." Boss said. "and if you still will not comply, I have placed a bomb somewhere in this building and will not hesitate to detonate it. Now, we have come here to expose the evils of integration and the mixing of white and black-"

"That's what integration _is_, you moron." Amber said from the scared bunch of dancers behind them.

"SILENCE" Boss yelled at her. "As I was saying. It is not natural. This show is one of the beacons of this rediculus instituion, so I will now cleanse it from the earth. In-" he checked his watch "30 seconds."

"With what?" A voice said from off camera, shrowded in shadow.

"Haven't you been lsitening? With the bom- " Boss asked irritatedly, looking at the person in shadow.

"I hope you don't mean with these. They look broken." Tracy Turnblad said, steppping out of the darkness, followed by Link,who kissed her on the cheek, who was followed by Penny and Seaweed, all holding the detonator cables from the two bombs below.

"Wha-?" Boss stuttered, unable to believe what he was seeing. Corny used Manny and Boss's distraction to the four teenagers to punch Manny in the stomach, release the headlock and turn the gun on it's owner, while people heard sirens wailing in the distance.

After the police arrived, there was mass chaos. Everyone was eager to get out of the building after the bomb threat. Manny and Boss were arrested, the bombs were taken away from the scene, and the police got everyone's statements.

Later that night found Link and Tracy picnicing in the moonlight. They relished the time alone they had together and after the picnic was done and everything cleaned up, the spent hours laying on top of the hood of the car, Tracy watching the stars twinkle, and Link watching Tracy.

"I love you, Tracy Turnblad." Link said.

"And I love you, Link. More than you will ever know." Tracy answered him, a smile spreading scorss her features as she gazed into his incredibly earnest blue eyes.

And they kissed my the light of the stars.

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Unnoticed by the two figures on the hood, the music that drifted softly from the open windows of the car from the radio was suddenly disrupted.

_"Pardon the inturruption. This is a special news bulletin: Notorius terroist Marion Dersey, who goes by the name 'Boss' has escaped from custody this afternoon-"_

So I thought I'd throw in an opening for a sequel, had I had the inclination. Also threw Amber in there for good measure.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my drug-induced storyline. I'll try not to write things when I have a cold in the future.

It's been a joy having you with me nonetheless...

-RIssa


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